Genetics question

[KalenO]

So I'm finally gearing up for an adult sci-fi story I plotted out years ago, with the help of a genetics researcher friend from college.  Problem is, a lot of my notes from then with the technical stuff are gone, and I've lost touch with that friend.  So I have the 'end results' of a lot of our conclusions and the world-building and such that I did based on that, but I'm finding myself trying to backtrack from there to figure out the exact logistics we initially worked out.

Confused yet?  LOL.

Basically the story/series is kinda 'urban sci-fi'....like some urban fantasy in that the paranormal is an accepted part of everyday life, but with science behind it rather than supernatural.  It's modern day, but posits a world where civilization has been shaped by the presence of a gene that unlocks or 'turns on' certain abilities in humans.  By the time of the series, everyone in the world has this gene, so everyone has an ability.  It's like Marvel's X-gene, if you're familiar with comics, in that a single gene is responsible for some people having telepathy and others having teleportation.....but there's a finite number of abilities, and the abilities the gene unlocks aren't random.  Different alleles and their positioning result in different abilities, etc.

The problem I have, is I have the notes that are the end result of our theorizing.  After we worked it out initially, we postulated that there were a total of 81 possible combinations - basically, 81 possible abilities.  Some more potent than others, of course.  A very large part of the series is the idea of a class system based on these abilities, which are directly tied into the wealth and power of the upper echelons of society.  The people, the families with the more potent and versatile abilities naturally are the wealthiest and most powerful, with the lowest classes having negligible abilities hardly worth mentioning....and of course, the two don't mingle much.  So in this society, if you've got a blue blood family who manipulates the weather, they're pretty obsessed with making sure they sire enough children with that ability to preserve the family's legacy and prestige.  Lineage is key and arranged marriages are a big thing, based on the compatibility of two bloodlines and what abilities the children of any two given people are likely to inherit/manifest.  A son of the weather worker bloodline for instance, is most definitely not going to be encouraged to marry a woman whose lineage makes her likely to mother a child with the fairly useless ability to levitate a few feet in the air.

So basically, what I'm missing, that we used to have, is basically a Punnet square type key for figuring out what's likely to result from what pairing.  Problem is, I don't remember how many alleles we worked out that there were....just that 81 was the end result of possible combos.  If I'm going to recreate the key, I need to at least figure out my initial starting point, if that makes sense?  So is there a way to figure out how many alleles you'd need to end up with 81 possible expressions of this 'x-gene'?

[DrCarter2001]

Hi Kalen, I'm not sure how to reverse engineer 81 allele combinations to achieve what you're trying to do. If I understand correctly, you grouped abilities into certain classes and labeled each group by a specific allele, with the idea that combining them would yield "combined" abilities. Is this correct? Or are you saying there are 81 possible abilities and that these could be combined to yield new abilities? I'm afraid I forget how to do a Punnet square so you'll need to find another genetics person to clarify that. In any case, you're probably better off coming up with the abilities of interest again, grouping them, and then figure out how they would combine, since you'll need that more for the actual story. To be honest, it's an interesting theoretical exercise, but ultimately I don't know how much most of your readers will want to know about the details of the maximum number of combinations and how they divide, for several reasons:

First, it's pretty heavy technical stuff. If this is pure sci-fi, you might be okay, but if there's some other element (thriller, mystery, romance, etc) a lot of detail about genetics will slow the story down.

Second, your geneticist friend probably helped you calculate all this out using pure Mendelian genetics, but did he explain to you about epigenetics? This is the idea that environment modifies how genes are expressed, illustrating why some family members may carry a gene but not show signs of a disease, or it may appear differently among family members. This is the current theory behind why some children with genetic disorders are autistic while others have intellectual disability or a learning disorder, or some combination. Fetal alcohol syndrome is a great example: it explains why some women can drink throughout pregnancy and their baby is fine, while others have one drink and the child has full FAS. In your story, environmental factors may influence how genes are expressed, leading to differing expression of abilities.

Third, we're starting to recognize more how genes interplay and how they can be modified (methylation, etc). What about tetraploids, translocations, etc? I'm a huge X-Men fan, but the idea that a single gene, regardless of how many alleles it has, could lead to something as complex as superhuman abilities is, frankly, as simplistic as the idea that a single gene codes for behavior or personality. Actually, all these possibilities can lead to an infinite number of possibilities, so you may not want to limit yourself so much.

I am curious about the actual plot of your story; is it about a romance between two members of polar opposite castes? Are there gangs? Is there a plan by the lower class to overthrow the upper class? Maybe one of the lower class could be born with a new mutation that is more powerful than the upper class and threatens to disrupt the whole fabric of society? What about someone born without powers? How would he or she survive?

I don't know if any of this helped you or just made it more complicated, but just wanted to show that your idea has a lot of potential (there were a few story-lines including Planet X and House of M where everyone in the world had powers), and outside of your actual plot, there are many ways you can manipulate the genetics to introduce new possibilities. I'd once thought of writing a story where a boy had now powers and tried to survive in a world of super-people, so I'd be willing to cowrite an "episode" if you were interested. Cheers!

[KalenO]

Hey Dr. Carter, you raise a lot of interesting questions, so let me see if I can clarify any -

First off, I'm in total agreement that its simplistic that a single gene could be responsible for something as complex as a superpower...let alone multiple unrelated superpowers.  So what I'm working with is the idea that the potential for all these abilities are inherent in everyone, most complex coding sequences in 'junk DNA' that we have no idea what its used for.  This single gene, then, is simply responsible for 'activating' one of those other more complex genetic mechanisms.

Boiling it down as simply as possible, its like how there are genes responsible for body development in the fetal stages, when a baby's still forming in the womb - once those genes fulfill their function, the body 'turns them off', so to speak.  I've kinda extrapolated the idea that there's a variety of potential abilities lying dormant in the human genome, and this gene is what switches one of them on....which alleles of the gene are inherited and in what combination is what's responsible for which ability is 'switched on'.  The single x-gene is just a light switch, so to speak.

As for WHY these abilities would be lying dormant, I play with it a lot and the gist is in-story, nobody knows, but there's plenty of schools of thought, many along the lines of some kind of intelligent design.

As for the 81 ultimate combinations and thus abilities, it was very important to my world-building that there was a finite number of possible abilities.  I love the X-Men comics, but I knew I didn't want to have a world where just any super power could result....I wanted a kind of organization to it, particularly because things like class struggle and prejudice were themes I wanted to play with.  That's why when we found a combination that ended with 81 ultimate expressions, I wanted to settle on that - it was enough that I could feasibly know what all of them were for purposes of my world-building, but still more than enough that I would never really run out of possible abilities to play with.

I don't intend to be heavily technical, BUT I need to be able to back up the directions I take the story in accordance to the rules I lay down for it.  None of my characters are scientists all into talking about the why and how of it all, though its addressed tangentially in story - its mostly in terms of inheritance that it'll come into play.  With lineage playing such a heavy role in the society of this story, I need to be consistent in how abilities are passed down to the next generation, and how that shapes characters' motivations.

As for the actual plot of my story, I'd rather not shell out many details this early, but the 'one kid without powers in a world of superhumans' plot is one I've personally seen before and as such, I wanted to avoid it.  But part of the importance of having a finalized set list of 81 possible abilities is that it allowed me to create a society that's structured itself around being able to utilize certain superhuman abilities.  So for instance if you have people able to manipulate the weather....there might be a number of other equally potent abilities, but few that are BOTH as powerful and as important to society as being able to give favorable conditions to crops, protect from hurricanes and tornadoes or alternately use them as a weapon.  So a weather worker is going to have a position of privilege within society that few can match, just due to their birth.  Likewise, they'd be discouraged from 'wasting' their abilities by seeking an occupation that didn't make use of them, like being a teacher or a doctor.

The idea of a society where what you'll be in life and what you'll contribute to society is almost predetermined by your genetic code is what really interested me. 

[Tigerbunny]

Can I just say, with zero knowledge in this area other than a small fascination in this particular arena, I would pick up your book (urban fantasy) in a heartbeat.  I'm not a big, heavy sci-fi fan but have been following this line of science in the real world for the last ten years and find what scientists have long thought of as "junk DNA" as the very essence, by means of a "switch", to be the very thing that distinguishes us from either being a human or a fruit fly that glows in the dark to be absolutely the be-all end-all in a great read.  Oh, the possibilities!  Bring. It. On.

Wish you all success....

- Tigerbunny   

[LateToTheParty]

I share TB's limited knowledge of the specific subject matter but as I read the premise, I also have great interest in your story. Further, I could see how you would want the info for reference. However, I also share Doc C's concern. Even in hard scifi, you run the risk of overwhelming the reader. K.S. Robinson's Mars trilogy just gutted all the fun out of the the books with his dogged determination to lecture the reader, (complete with quizes, term papers and final exams) on the mechanics. I really wish the guy had pursued a second PhD in astro physics, geo-physics or under-water basket weaving--anything to spared the reader his insistance on killing pace, plot and character development with his grand thesis. Just saying.

[Falen]

...i'd read this book

[jfoster3]

Have you considered have it be a genetic mutation that results in a complete severing of a chromosome or fusing of two chromosomes? So the people with the abilities have 22 pairs of chromosomes or 24 pairs? That is a key difference in many almost related species, so it can make for some extreme differences from normal. The issue with the entire world population having this mutation is that it's pretty slim odds and it would mean that everyone had to descend from one ancestor, especially if the odds of the mutation happening twice is huge (which something like this would be). Perhaps you can get around it by explaining the mutation makes them more fit (like the survive better, have more kids ect) This could be an explanation for the variations in class too. Sort of like the theory behind the evolution of giraffes where the ones with longer necks could survive, so they had babies with long necks and in the next generation, the new babies had even longer necks until the next thing you know, those beasts have hecka long necks. If the timing was just right for your people it could be during that change.
then again you don't need the details down for this. Just that it happens.

[DrCarter2001]

Even the idea of survival of the fittest might be difficult to explain how EVERYONE who doesn't have the mutation died out (if you had very intelligent/resourceful individuals, they would still find a way to survive even among super-powered others. In the comics and shows like Heroes they talk about an "event" that awakens the dormant powers in the general population (by altering the genetic code). Even though it's been done before, since the development of a caste system, not the appearance of powers itself, is the focus of your story, you could use some triggering event (e.g. a nuclear war, solar storm, whatever) as the explanation for the variation. But you'd have to keep in mind that several genes would have to be somehow altered, not just one, in order to get the range of powers you want.
Simply fusing two chromosomes would not lead to this variation, assuming all the gene pairs are intact (like a massive Robertsonian translocation), unless there were massive deletions or duplications of entire arms of the chromosomes, which would likely lead to some striking (and possibly fatal) physical abnormalities (think of Trisomy 13 or 18, or Cri du Chat/4p deletion). While it could lead to an interesting theory on whether having superpowers would be enough to attract the opposite sex regardless of physically "unattractive" features (again, based on the social definition of attractive), this might be more complex than you really want to deal with in this book. Just saying.